The “cultural cleaning” by IS militants in Iraq that include destruction of artefacts and smashing of statues in a museum is a war crime, said the head of the United Nations agency for culture, Unesco.
According to BBC, Irina Bokova said that the video posted by IS militants showing smashing of statues in Mosul was “a real shock” and called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
The destruction of statues and artefacts are apparently part of their campaign to destroy a number of shrines — including Muslim holy sites — in order to put an end to what they view as heresy.
Some of the artefacts being destroyed by IS militants date back to the 9th Century BC.
The jihadists justified their destruction saying that those statues were “false idols” that needed to be smashed.
Analysts said that the artefacts were unique and priceless that are being destroyed by the militants. (ANI)